The big screen in the corner of the quaint Estadi Montilivi displayed some pre-match entertainment. For Liverpool’s reserve goalkeeper, anyway. Caoimhin Kelleher’s penalty save from Kylian Mbappe appeared about 20 minutes before kick-off. It may be the highlight of the Irishman’s career. It was certainly the highlight of his night.
What followed was an illustration of why Kelleher may be the best second-choice goalkeeper in football. Alisson’s return to the team was both foretold by Arne Slot’s stance of maintaining that, no matter how many saves Kelleher made, the Brazilian remained his first choice, and a major decision. In keeping with Slot’s start to life at Anfield, he got it right.
After two months out and 11 games on the sidelines, Alisson was parachuted straight back in. His excellence in Girona preserved Liverpool’s immaculate start to Champions League football under Slot and underlined the logic behind the pecking order. Kelleher is terrific but Alisson is Alisson, the man Liverpool made the most expensive goalkeeper ever and the man who, in turn, made Liverpool Champions League winners. Jurgen Klopp’s favourite save in his eight-and-a-half year reign was Alisson’s from Napoli’s Arkadiusz Milik in December 2018; without that, Liverpool would have exited the competition then and he would have been unable to make a series of stops in the following summer’s final.
The stakes were smaller in Girona but Alisson was outstanding. Overworked, too, with Slot critical of the players who afforded him too little protection. “Every time we lost the ball, we were not aggressive enough so they could go almost all the way to our goal and have a shot,” he said.
And Alisson saved them. Five in total, the most he has made in a match under Slot, the best a spectacular effort to frustrate Yaser Asprilla. He has a calmness that is reassuring, an ability to appear unaffected even when he does make mistakes. Cruelly for Kelleher, his last action of his time in goal was the error that allowed Fabian Schar to level at St James’ Park. And yet the otherwise inspired understudy was not dropped due to that. It was simply the case that Alisson was fit again. “We have an incredible goalkeeper,” said Slot. His preference is for him to be an incredible spectator: during defensive frugality earlier in the season, he lamented that Alisson was required at all.
Now he reflected on the Brazilian’s comeback. “I said as a joke that maybe the players wanted to see how fit he really was, so to give him so much work,” he said. “He showed again today why I said so many times that he is our first goalkeeper. That has nothing to do with Caoimh – he did so, so well – but Alisson has been so important for this club for so many years and showed today why he is one of the best or in my opinion the best in the world and let’s hope he can keep on putting these performances in and even more that he can stay fit.”
Which is a pertinent point. This is a second consecutive season in which Kelleher has made more appearances than Alisson. In part, it justifies the Irishman’s decision to stay so far, even as he wants first-team football. It is a short-term fix: the arrival of Giorgi Mamardashvili next summer means that, strangely, there are doubts about the future of each, even as Liverpool seem to have the finest goalkeeping options in the game. At the moment, they have a deluxe job-share.
Now the bare facts are that Liverpool have gone 537 minutes without conceding in the Champions League, a spell shared by two goalkeepers. Kelleher has three clean sheets to Alisson’s two, the Irishman 12 saves to the Brazilian’s eight. Kelleher’s display against Real Madrid may live longest in the memory but then there are times when Alisson goes about his work with an understated assurance.
He is a more experienced goalkeeper. He is a less emotional one, too, if only because few seem as naturally composed as Alisson. Kelleher may have exceeded expectations at Anfield. Alisson has met them; because they were so high when he arrived. The only criticism is his increasingly patchy fitness record.
And there are times when Slot shows how he studied the Liverpool he inherited. As they closed in on him, they exited last season’s Europa League. Alisson was not quite fit enough to return for the first leg against Atalanta; a previously brilliant Kelleher was culpable for two goals in a 3-0 defeat. The lesson may have been: when Alisson is fit, Alisson plays.
And after a second spell of excellence from Kelleher, he did, immediately and with an impact. It was a reminder of why Klopp used to sing “All you need is Alisson Becker” to the tune of Queen’s Radio Gaga. It is harder to imagine Slot doing his best Freddie Mercury impression. But his sentiment may be the same.